'We are an army out there': Crews from across B.C. tackling Okanagan wildfires after weather 'reprieve'

Evacuation alerts expanded on both sides of Okanagan Lake overnight, but there were no new orders for Kelowna or West Kelowna residents to flee the flames of encroaching wildfires.

At a news conference Saturday morning, West Kelowna Fire Chief Jason Brolund described the night as a "reprieve," but added that he was hesitant to use that term, since crews still had multiple structure fires to deal with simultaneously, which is a massive workload for his crews under normal circumstances.

"It's become evident that this event is going to leave a long, lasting scar on this community," Brolund said, noting that "multiple structures" were lost again Friday.

The fire chief said he knows residents have two key questions about the fire, but said he doesn't have answers to them yet.

On the question of when residents will be able to return to their homes, he said he doesn't know, but it's not yet safe to do so.

As for how many homes have been destroyed, Brolund said that question can't be answered yet either.

"We will start counting the number of houses that are burned when we stop fighting the fires that are burning," he said, adding that he and many of his firefighters are among those whose properties are currently subject to evacuation orders.

COLD FRONT PASSED

Jerrad Schroeder of the BC Wildfire Service said Saturday morning that the cold front that led to high winds and massive growth of wildfires on both sides of Okanagan Lake had passed, but crews were "still expecting difficult days ahead."

"The winds were quiet through the night," said Kelowna Mayor Tom Dyas in an interview with CTV News Channel Saturday.

"We are concerned that, potentially, the winds may come up a little bit again this afternoon."

As of Saturday morning, the last new evacuation order issued in the Central Okanagan Regional District was for residents of the Smith Creek subdivision in West Kelowna around 9:20 p.m. Friday.

After that time, several additional evacuation alerts were issued, including for the Shannon Lake area and Smith Creek agricultural area to Powers Creek (Glen Canyon) and the North Glenrosa neighbourhood in West Kelowna, as well as for Kelowna's Glenmore Highlands.

Thousands of people remained under evacuation orders and thousands more under alerts Saturday. Residents can view the latest evacuation details on the CORD's interactive map, which is embedded below. A full-screen version can be found here. 

WEST KELOWNA WATER ISSUES

Both Brolund and Kelowna Fire Chief Travis Whiting thanked firefighting colleagues from around the province who have been sending resources to help out in the Okanagan region.

"Today on the ground, we are an army out there," Brolund said. "We have 127 structural firefighters working the day shifts today. There are 41 fire trucks, and they were all parked in front of my office this morning."

He said the fire passed over West Kelowna's $75-million under-construction water treatment plant Friday night, but firefighters were able to save the structure from damage.

"It's a piece of critical infrastructure," Brolund said. "It's going to make an immense difference to our community when it gets turned on. And we were not going to let it burn down."

Though the plant was saved, the city's Rose Valley Water System is currently under a "do not consume" order, which Brolund said was necessary due to a water shortage.

"Because of the number of structures that have burned, the water's freely flowing from those structures now, and what's happened is it's depleted the water supply in that area," the fire chief said.

The City of West Kelowna has also implemented stage 4 watering restrictions, which mean no outdoor use of water is allowed, and agricultural users are strongly encouraged to reduce consumption.

STRUCTURE LOSS ACROSS COMMUNITIES

Officials from Kelowna, West Kelowna and Lake Country all acknowledged the loss of buildings in their communities as a result of the ongoing wildfires, though none were yet able to provide an estimate of how many structures had been destroyed.

Images and videos posted on social media suggest the toll is significant.

The McDougall Creek wildfire sparked northwest of West Kelowna on Tuesday, but it was the gusting wind that followed a week-long heat wave that drove its substantial growth on Thursday and Friday.  

Additional fires sparked across the lake in the City of Kelowna Thursday night and Friday morning, prompting the evacuations there.

Wildfire officials said Friday that they couldn't say with certainty whether the McDougall Creek blaze had jumped the lake or the fires on the east side of the lake – including flames threatening homes in the Lake Country area – were separate.

Either way, images from the region capture devastation reminiscent of the 2003 Okanagan Mountain Park fire, which destroyed more than 200 homes and forced 27,000 to evacuate. 

Across B.C., the number of people ordered to flee their homes rose dramatically on Friday – more than tripling from 4,500 to more than 15,000 over just an hour or so – prompting Premier David Eby to declare a province-wide state of emergency.